SAA 2017: Session 402 Identifying and Dismantling White Supremacy in the Archives: A Plan of Action

In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Whitney Ray, Student, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

Led by Michelle Caswell, Ricardo Punzalan, and Jamie A. Lee, this session was a mixture of brainstorming and a call to action to identify white supremacy in archives and dismantle it. The session was split into three parts. First, participants read Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Un-packing the Invisible Knapsack.” Second, participants–using McIntosh’s format as a model–shared experiences of white privilege and invisible whiteness at archival institutions and places of work, thereby identifying white supremacy in the archives. Third, participants thought of and shared ways to dismantle white supremacy.

SAA 2017: Session 310 Beyond the Finding Aid: New Directions for Archival Description

In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Michael Barera, Archivist, Texas A&M University-Commerce

This panel discussion consisted of Alexis Antracoli (Princeton University), Meghan Lyon (Duke University), Jennifer Sirotkin (Chick-fil-A), and Gregory Wiedeman (University at Albany, SUNY). Alexis began with a brief introduction, noting that she has been “spending a lot of time” taking Microsoft Access databases with item-level description and moving them into EAD so they can be integrated into Princeton’s finding aid database. She then asks the question that is at the heart of this section: “is the finding aid the best tool for everything we have?” The answer: “probably not.”

SAA 2017: Session 505 Capturing a Movement: Documenting Student Activities and Activism on Campus

In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Jenifer Becker, Reference Librarian, WSU Vancouver Library

In the recent years, college and university campuses across the country have been the site of a new wave of student protests and activism. Student protests, spurred by tuition hikes, incidents of sexual assault and harassment, and racism and racial microaggressions on and off campuses, began in the early 2010s and arguably reached their zenith between Spring 2014 and Fall 2015. During this time, students came forward to share their experiences in the hopes that they might create a more inclusive environment on their campus.

The Society of American Archivist’s 2017 annual conference in Portland, Oregon brought together seven professionals from across the United States working to bring student and activist narratives into the college and university archives for a lightning round session, entitled “Documenting Student Activities and Activism on Campus.” Ranging from small liberal arts colleges to large public universities, five of the speakers addressed how they have operated within the confines of their institution to proactively seek student records and inform potential student donors. College and university campuses have long been the site of student protests and the recent efforts to seek student records have not been limited to currently enrolled students. One speaker addressed the possible role archives can have at reunions. Finally, speaking more broadly about activist records, another speaker addressed the difficulties archivists face in documenting this population in the age of social media.

SAA 2017: Open Forums Archival Advocacy and Awareness Amid Social/Political Upheaval

In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Alexandra Alisauskas, MAS/MLIS Candidate, University of British Columbia

Co-sponsored by SAA Committees on Public Policy and Public Awareness and Issues and Advocacy Section, the 2^nd annual Advocacy Forum brought together five panelists whose professional practices lie, in various ways, at the intersection of archives and activism. Outgoing COPA chair and panel co-moderator Sami Norling framed the discussion by asking the introductory question of whether there should be a distinction between archival advocacy and awareness, or how they can inform each other (particularly in light of the challenges posed by recent political and social changes).

SAA 2017: Session 504 The Rights Stuff: Encouraging Appropriate Reuse with Standardized Rights Statements

In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Michael Barera, Archivist, Texas A&M University-Commerce

The panel for this section consisted of Laura Capell (Head of Digital Production & Electronic Records Archivist, University of Miami), MJ Han (Metadata Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Brandy Karl (Copyright Officer, Penn State University Libraries), Sheila McAlister (Director, Digital Library of Georgia), and Kelcy Shepherd (DPLA Network Manager, Digital Public Library of America).

SAA 2017: Session 211 Soft Skills for Hard Tech: Tech Support, Tech Knowledge, and Tech Literacy in the Archives

In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Jane Kelly, Historical & Special Collections Assistant, Harvard Law School Library and MSLIS Candidate at the iSchool at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

The SAA conference session “Soft Skills for Hard Tech: Tech Support, Tech Knowledge, and Tech Literacy in the Archives” raised four big questions about how archivists can address their tech needs while working with colleagues within and outside the archives field. Although there are many tech skills that archivists ought to have in order to complete their own work, the ability to communicate with IT staff, researchers, and administrators is equally important.

SAA 2017: Session 201 What We Talk About When We Talk About Processing Born-Digital: Building a Framework for Shared Practice

In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Michael Barera, Archivist, Texas A&M University-Commerce

This session consisted of a panel-led presentation and discussion conducted by Sally DeBauche, Erin Faulder, Shira Peltzman, Kate Tasker, and Dorothy Waugh. Other members of their group who had contributed to the project but were not present at the session were Susanne Annand, Marty Gengenbach, Julie Goldsmith, and Laura Jackson.